Intel Introduces Arduino-Compatible Galileo Board Computer

Intel is now actively attempting to recruit the maker community to aid it in its battle against ARM.

Today at a major gathering of European hardware hackers in Rome, the chip giant announced it has cooked up a Raspberry Pi-style board computer with the blessing of Arduino. The computer is called the Galileo.

The Galileo board features the Intel Quark SoC X1000, a low-power small core product. The Quark is Intel’s effort to extend into the Internet of things and wearable devices. The ARM architecture is already hitting those markets due to its low power.

The dev board runs on an open-source Linux operating system with Arduino libraries.

The Intel Quark SoC X1000 chip that drives the board – which according to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich is intended to feature in potentially billions of ‘internet of things’ applications – was designed in Ireland by a 70-strong team as part of an IDA Ireland-backed project. The words ‘Designed in Ireland’ are emblazoned on the boards.

The Quark SoC X1000 is a 32-bit, single core, single-thread, Pentium instruction set architecture (ISA)-compatible CPU, operating at speeds up to 400MHz.

Galileo also supports Arduino-oriented “shield” add-on cards drawing either 3.3 or 5V. Galileo’s digital pins 0 to 13 – and the adjacent AREF and GND pins – its analog inputs 0 to 5, its power header, ICSP header and UART port pins are all in the same locations as their equivalents on the Arduino Uno R3 board.

Intel also plans to donate 50,000 of the Galileo boards to 1,000 universities worldwide over the next 18 months.

Intel has already supplied boards to 17 institutions, and will hand some out at this week’s Maker Faire in Rome. By late November, people not affiliated with educational institutions should also be able to buy Galileo boards, which Intel expects to cost around $50 each.

iGyaan's Carlos Santana! Shivaank loves Apple products! He stays up to date with the latest happenings of the tech world and gets his hands dirty with the latest Gadgets! Follow Him on Google Plus : Google+